The Cucumber Tree: Memories of a Vancouver Boyhood

by Bob Ross

This childhood biography is a story about growing up in Vancouver in the 1940's and 50's, of building forts and shooting slingshots, of catching muskrats and making campfires in the local woods. It was a time when kids played outdoors from dawn ’til dusk without supervision, in a world without television or computers. Bob Ross and the kids of his Vancouver neighbourhood spent their daylight hours climbing trees, and it was in one special tree that they met to plan their childhood adventures, garden raids, war parties and hunting excursions to far-off frog ponds. Later in life, that tree came to represent all that a childhood in early Vancouver could be. Other elements of this boyhood story include descriptions of the contributions that the author’s pioneer forefathers (great grandfather Henry Cambie, grandfather Robert Tatlow and the Cornwalls of Ashcroft Manor) made to the early history of Vancouver and British Columbia. The book includes tales of the author’s private school life, his family cottage at Pasley Island, driving trips to the south Cariboo, and a summer as a cadet at the Vernon army camp. The story ends with a wilderness adventure by the author and his 16 year-old best friend in their home-made canoe. Ross’s otherwise idyllic childhood was haunted by the dark shadow of the cold war when America and Russia were engaged in their feverish race to develop atomic warheads. The installation of air raid warning systems only reinforced his belief that the Russians would soon bomb Vancouver. The author's answer to this drama was to build a canoe and develop his own survival plan...

199 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

For the artist Bob Ross, see Bob Ross and Bob Ross Inc.

Reviews

[Steven W Oatway · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very enlightening account of growing up in a neighbourhood of Vancouver I once lived in many years later. You will learn not only of his experiences but what life was like back then. It is very good for anyone wanting to understand that era and what Baby Boomers experienced in their early years.